The National Science Foundation had funded the University of Puerto Rico
in Humacao to establish a Microbial Observatory (MO) in the Cabo Rojo
Salterns in Puerto Rico. The salterns are composed of an estuary
surrounded by natural
matsthat feds a series of
artificial salt pondswith seawater.

The
microbial diversity and community structure play a key role in
determining the mineralogy of microbial mat sediments. Alteration
of the geochemical characteristics of sediments through microbial
community metabolism is a key process that determines which minerals
prevail. Not much is known about the interrelation between mat
community composition, the respective metabolic activities and
physiology of microbes in the mat with regard to geological processes
such as the binding and trapping of specific minerals, precipitating and
dissolving key minerals, and the production of biogenic gases. In
addition, the molecular aspects of microorganisms which have capacity to
alter the sedimentology and produce or consume gases are relatively
poorly studied. We plan to use the mats from the Cabo Rojo
salterns to answer such questions.

Check out the project new
Bulletin Board! It is located in the Natural Sciences Building
lobby, UPR-Humacao.